


A Taste of Blue

by AL_Alexander



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Blood, Depression, I decided to write angst, M/M, SO SORRY, Suicidal Thoughts/Actions, have a small depressed Jack, very little fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-13
Updated: 2017-02-13
Packaged: 2018-09-24 04:03:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,249
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9699704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AL_Alexander/pseuds/AL_Alexander
Summary: Sometimes, you just need a taste of blue.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So... I felt like angst. -throws it at your face and runs-  
> Anyways, enjoy this.  
> EDIT: This is not indicative of my writing style. Please read my other fics for that.

The bed was creaky. The room was dull. The blanket was thin. The "sun" still tried its damnedest to get through the paper thin curtains that covered the window, even though it was way too late for it. The pillow was like a brick, hard and unyielding, yet too thin to give any support. The smell of blankness prevailed. The harsh concrete of the floor that they were not allowed to cover glared at the world, the cold permeating the room.

 

Jack rolled onto his back, flopping his arm over his eyes.. He swallowed down the bile that threatened to rise in his throat. He didn't need to vomit again, he’d been doing that a lot. He hadn’t eaten in a couple of days either.

 

_ Good _ , part of his brain hissed.  _ You don't deserve it. _

 

He sighed shakily as his stomach grumbled at him. He ignored it- He wasn't  _ really _ hungry anyways.  _ I should probably go work out,  _ he mused. His body complained as he stretched, joints popping painfully. He'd just worked out most of  _ yesterday _ , only stopping when Reyes had come in and flat out  _ yelled _ at him to stop.

 

"What do you think you’re doing?" He'd snapped. 

 

Jack shrugged. The SEP took a lot out of a person. He looked over the empty gym, the machines cold and empty.  _ Just like me _ , he thought bitterly. Reyes' shaking head snapped his attention back to the present. 

 

"Jack, you need to get outta here. You need a shower and food." 

 

Jack inwardly recoiled at the mention of food. He didn't like the food there... or anywhere, really. 

 

"I’m fine, Reyes," He responded curtly, standing and  making his way to the showers. He stumbled, catching himself before he could fall - but not before drawing Reyes’ attention to him. 

 

"Morrison. Have you eaten today?"

 

Jack shrugged. "Don't remember." 

 

There was a rustling sound before he found himself thrown over Reyes' shoulder like a bag of potatoes. "Reyes! Let go of me!" He screeched, flailing and trying to hit the other man's face. His ankles were grabbed and held in place, so he opted for clawing his assailant’s back in a futile attempt to escape his grasp. Reyes didn't even flinch,  dragging  Jack to a table, before all but  _ throwing _ him down and slamming a plate of food in front of him, glaring at him in an unspoken order to eat. And Jack did... albeit slowly. Once Reyes was satisfied, he'd ordered  Jack to go rest for the remainder of the day. 

 

So Jack returned to his room... and proceeded to throw  up all he ate.

 

He'd sat there, looking into the toilet bowl, the solid chunks of food floating in the water, staring at him accusingly. Jack had flushed the toilet, cleaned up anything that had escaped, brushed his teeth, and gone to bed.

When he'd tried to go to the gym again today, he'd found Reyes prowling around.  _ Keeping me out _ , Jack thought bitterly, silently returning to his room. He'd stayed there the entire day. Now, he was back in bed, trying to sleep, and unable to.  _ Insomnia’s  a bitch _ .  _ Fuck this, _ he decided as he got up and stumbled towards his bathroom.

 

He walked out of his room and looked around with bleary eyes. He used to share this room with someone. But they'd either died or dropped out, he wasn't sure. He didn't  _ want  _ to be sure either. There was a couch, a small love seat, and holo-vision in the main room, with a very small kitchenette beside it. The other room was across from his, a bathroom in the middle. The other room was empty. Not in furnishings, as it had the same setup that Jack's had, but in the sense of anyone living there. They had taken anything that would've reminded Jack of his past roommate. 

 

_ What was their name? Michel...son? Is that right? _

 

Jack pondered  for a moment before shaking his head and finishing his stumble to the bathroom. He yanked open a drawer, and fished around inside. "C'mon, c'mon..." he slurred, letting out a hoarse cry of victory when his hand had closed around the bottle of sleeping pills. He slammed the drawer shut, opened the bottle, and peered in. It was worrying to only see three pills. Shrugging, he tipped his head back and downed all three in a single gulp. They seemed to take effect almost immediately, as he swayed alarmingly. He leaned against the counter for a moment to balance himself, before pushing himself up and staggering his way back to his room.

 

He opened the door, tripping over his feet, and crashed his head against the metal frame at the bottom of the bed. He was knocked out instantly.

_______________________________________________

Gabriel sighed and glared at the clock. It was odd that no one had seen Jack the  _ entire day _ . With a deep sigh, he stood and stretched. 

 

"Hey, Reyes, what are you up to?" 

 

"Gonna go look for Morrison." 

 

A snort. "Good luck, dude." 

 

Gabe ignored the mocking tone as he left the room and headed down the hallway that housed Jack's room.

 

He had to stop to lick the front of his upper teeth and gums. The taste of sweat, tears, and blood were nauseating. He took in a deep breath, shivering slightly. He remembered when there were all sorts of new kids running around here, acting like, well, children. They'd all been plucked straight out of boot- a bunch of greens. Jack had been so small then. Not in height- he'd been a stick, a beanstalk. Gabe, on the other hand, had been 5'1", and built like a brick house. Jack had kept his height and grown outwards. But of all those he had made friends with, Jack had been the only one to survive the SEP. This left Jack as the sole resident in  that hall, or even that quarter of the base. Forcing his legs to move, Gabe made his way over to Jack's door and knocked softly. 

 

No reply. 

 

Gabe knocked a little harder. Nothing still. 

 

"Jack?" He knocked again. Nothing. 

 

"Morrison!" He banged on the door. 

 

Gabe felt panic rise in his throat. No.  _ No no no no no!  _ He cursed and typed in an override to the electronic lock. It only opened part way.  Jack had put on the physical lock. Smart kid. That didn't do much against Gabriel though, the rumors of him breaking a fully locked door down were true, after all. He took a deep breath and rammed the door with his shoulder, shattering the lock as his momentum carried him forward. 

 

"Jack?" He whispered. It was quite. Too quiet. 

 

"Jack?" Gabe tried again. No response. He tried the left door. It was empty. Right. Jack's roommate. Rather, ex roommate. Gabe let out a breath. Ok, one room down. He went to the bathroom next.

 

The bathroom seemed clear... wait, no. He spotted the discarded pill bottle out of the corner of his eye. Kneeling down, he picked it up and looked at it in confusion."Sleeping pills?" He questioned. Why did Jack need sleeping pills?  _ Insomnia, maybe? _ Gabe took a shaky breath. Please be all that this was. He clunked the bottle onto the sink's counter and left the bathroom. Only one room left. Gabe wasn't sure that he wanted to open that door.

 

As he opened the door slowly, his heart stopped at the sight that greeted him. Jack was face down on the floor, a pool of blood around his head."Jack!" He miscalculated as he ran into the room, sliding across the wet floor and slamming into the bedpost.  He shrugged off the impact as he picked himself up and stopped by Jack's head. "Jackie?" He lifted the blonde's head delicately, ashe gently turned Jack's head and his body so he didn't accidentally snap his neck, to look at the damage. It wasn't pretty.

 

Jack's lips were blue from the amount of blood he'd lost, the bags under his eyes dark enough that it looked like he'd just been punched a few times too many, and the gash a few inches deep. Gabe swallowed back the tears that threatened to spill. Still holding Jack, he pulled out his comm unit, pushing a button. "Medical, come in, over."

 

The device buzzed as a static voice came over the line. 

 

"Medical reporting. What’s the SITREP? Over." 

 

Gabe took in a shaky breath. "I need to you to come to Block B, Room 98. I found Morrison. He’s got a deep forehead gash, and a possible concussion. He’s lost a lot of blood, and he doesn’t look too well. Over." 

 

There was a moment of silence before the line crackled again. "How bad does it look? Over." He knew that tone. 

 

"He has a... 5 inch wide gash on his head, from his temple back to his crown, looks somewhat deep, and he’s passed out. Don't know how much blood loss, but it’s still bleeding. I found an empty sleeping pill bottle; I don't know how many he's taken. Found him on the floor. Over." The second that it took for a response felt like an eternity. The radio fizzled at him again. "We'll be right there."

 

"Please hurry..." Gabe whispered as he put the closed the comm connection. . He sat there with Jack's head in his lap, silence falling over the room. His head spun, adrenaline giving way to shock as he waited.  A deep ache took root in his chest, a cold numbness falling over him.

 

He lifted his head as a doctor marched stop at the door He looked at the scene and his face blanched. " _ Get in here! _ " Two burly men with a stretcher held between them walked  in and reached for Jack, but Gabe held him closer. 

 

"I... I can put him on," he breathed, swallowing his fear. The two looked at the doctor, who nodded. Gabe, as slowly and gently as he dared, lifted Jack and set him on the stretcher. "Be careful with him." The men nodded curtly before lifting Jack slowly and quickly making their way out of the room 

 

Gabriel was only dimly aware of the doctor telling him about alerting him - he’d just nodded numbly as he stared at the pool of blood under his feet. It spilled under the bed. Gabe stared until he couldn't any longer. He had dropped his radio on the floor. He knelt down and grabbed the comm unit, flicking at a button. 

 

"Boarding, come in, over." 

 

"Boarding reporting, what do you need, Reyes?" 

 

He took a moment. He had also lost his roommate, but most of his block was still populated. The other room in his own dorm was still empty, but at least it had actual windows. 

 

"I need someone to transfer Jack Morrison’s belongings to my dorm." 

 

After a few moments of silence, the comm buzzed again.. "So you want to have him transferred to Block S, Room 76, correct? Over."

 

"Affirmative, over."

 

Gabe could feel the sigh on the other side of the device. He was expecting a no. What he got instead was a "Ok, Reyes. Pack up his stuff." 

 

Gabe took a moment to realize what had been said. Jack would be his roommate! He still, dumbfounded, before his brain yelled at him.  _ Get his stuff, moron! _ He sprang into action, finding boxes and stuffing them with Jack’s belongings. Once he was sure he'd gotten everything, he stacked the boxes. Making sure the tower wouldn’t fall, he hefted them up, leant them against his chest, and made the trek to his room.

 

He opened the door opposite to his own room, balancing the boxes on a lifted knee, and then set them down inside. It would be Jack's room soon enough. He let out a breath as he collapsed on the sofa and waited for the comm to come alive again.

_______________________________________________

 

Jack groaned as he stirred, wincing as his head protested at the motion. He blearily opened his eyes, shutting them again as a harsh light made him regret that decision.  He let out let out another groan  at how bright it was, bringing his hand up over his eyes and causing the pacing footsteps to make their way over to him.. A calloused hand took hold of the other hand that was lying on the bed, causing  the I.V. in the back of his hand tug slightly. He sighed. 

 

"Jack?" He broke the seal his eyelids seemed to have to look at the source of the sound. Reyes looked awful, the bags under his eyes deep. His eyes themselves looked haunted, like he'd just seen his worst fear come to life. Jack sighed again, turning his head. "'S too bright..."

 

Reyes stood and quickly walked towards the controls before hurrying back. . "Is that better?" He whispered. Jack nodded slightly. His head in general hurt. Reyes ran his thumb against the side of Jack's hand, taking care to avoid the I.V. Jack looked up again. The lights were off, but it was still bright. 

 

"Where...?"

 

"Med."

 

Jack hummed in understanding. Reyes said nothing more, opting to sit there in silence. It was nearly twenty minutes before he spoke again, his voice barely a whisper. "How do you feel?" Jack shrugged. "Okay." 

 

A lie. He felt like shit. His head hurt, his throat was dry and sore, his body ached, and just... he felt awful. Reyes nodded. Many more moments passed before another word was spoken. 

 

"How many did you take?" 

 

Jack turned his head and gave him a confused look. "What?"

 

"How many did you take? Sleeping pills?" Reyes repeated, adding a little clarification.

 

Jack turned his head back towards the ceiling, blinking a few times, trying to remember. 

 

"Three, I think. That's all that were left." 

 

A breath. "Three? Three sleeping pills?" 

 

Jack nodded slightly. "So? 'S not much..." 

 

A large, unyeilding,  _ warm _ ,  _ pleasantly rough _ , hand moved across his face to his other cheek and gently made Jack look at him. Reyes’ face had hardened into a scowl. "Most people here only take a quarter, Morrison. You took  _ three _ ." The last word was said with so much pain and fear and for a second, Jack felt bad for a moment. Then, that voice in his head reared it’s head again. 

 

_ Don’t be naive,  _ it sneered.  _ No one cares about you. You’re worthless. Canon fodder. You’re expendable, just like the idiots who died before you. He’s no different. He’s gonna draw you in, use you. And then, you’ll be tossed aside. Again. _

 

Jack glared back to the side, turning his head once more to the ceiling. "I'm fine Reyes. Lemme go back to my room." The hand didn't move. 

 

"Jack, stop." Jack rolled his eyes, returning to glaring at Reyes. 

 

"What? It's not like you care." 

 

That got him an unexpected reaction - the look of  pure and utter pain and sorrow. The thumb of the hand that was holding his head stopped stroking. When had it started? 

"Is that what you think?" The words were so soft and quiet, yet so loud against Jack's ears. 

 

"Reyes, I'm just cannon fodder, I'm nothing." Jack braced himself for the inevitable agreement, the subsequent abandonment. Instead, Reyes leaned forward and laid his head on the bed, making sure his cheek was against the bed so he could look at Jack better. 

 

"You're an idiot, you know that?" He breathed out. His breath smelled lightly of mint.

 

"What do you mean?"

 

"You've been out for nearly two days, Jackie. I haven't moved an inch."

 

"He hasn't," a new voice interrupted. Reyes straightened up and Jack moved slightly to look at the source of the voice. A doctor stood in the doorway. 

 

"Reyes hasn't moved from your side, really, once you were out of surgery." Jack blinked. 

 

"Surgery?" He echoed.

 

The doctor nodded. "You had, or I should say,  _ have _ , a pretty  _ nasty _ gash on your head." 

 

Jack raised his hand, feeling the itchy lines of stitches. He closed his eyes and exhaled a breath. In that moment, the doctor had said something and left them alone. Reyes returned his gaze to Jack.

 

"You scared me half to death." Jack blinked again. No, this wasn't right. He had just fallen asleep and this was some awful dream. Because Reyes was being nice to him. "I... this is a joke, right? Or a dream?"

 

Reyes' face morphed into one of confusion. "What?" Jack laughed bitterly. "This is a dream, then! This isn't happening. No one,  _ no one _ ," he repeated, hissing, "would be this nice to me." He sat up, quickly, ignoring the sharp pain lancing through his head and started to stand, but was dragged back bodily into bed by Reyes. A scuffle ensued, ending with the I.V. being ripped, rather painfully, out of his hand. A small trickle of blood left a bright red trail. Jack ripped Reyes’ arm off his own and stalked towards the door. 

 

"It's not a damn joke, Jackie. For fuck’s sake,  _ stop _ ."

 

Jack felt like passing out again. His vision was starting to blur, fading at the edges, and his hearing started fuzzing out. He rubbed his face with his hand, trying to clear it. Before he could even process it, Reyes was walking him back to the hospital bed, laying him back down, reinserting and fixing the I.V., and making sure Jack was comfortable. He sighed after he was done, giving Jack a forlorn look and making to leave. Something small, weak, and painful broken in Jack took over, if only for a second. He held an arm out.

 

"Stay?"

_______________________________________________

 

Gabe was at the door when the word was spoken.. He paused, hand at the knob and turned around, taking in Jack’s  small form. Part of him screamed that Jack needed a moment to breath, but he ignored it, returning to Jack's side. He was about to sit down in the uncomfortable chair, when a weak grip tugged at his arm. Jack pulled on his hoodie, trying to get him into the bed with him. Gabe sighed. 

 

"It won't fit us both..." He murmured, but still, went around the other side and toed off his shoes. He climbed in, wrapping Jack in his arms. The blonde snuggled closer, nuzzling under Gabe's jaw. "Don't leave me.  _ Please. _ "

 

Gabe felt tears start to burn his eyes. "Never, cariño," he promised, holding Jack as close as he could.  Jack sniffled. 

 

"I don't wanna go back to my room... Dad'll just hurt me there..." 

 

Gabriel felt his heart break. "Your dad won't get you here." 

 

Jack laughed wetly. "He always does." 

 

Gabe gently lifted Jack's chin to look at him. The angle was awkward, but Gabe didn't care. "He’ll have to go through me if he wants to this time," he said, the somber and solemn tone in his voice makingde Jack's eyes go wide. 

 

"Promise?" Jack whispered. 

 

_ You're in so deep, Gabe, _ a voice sighed in his head. "Promise," Gabe echoed. Jack's smile, so genuine, so sweet, was like pure sunshine. 

 

"'Kay..." He nuzzled back under Gabe's head, up against his throat, and drifted off.

Gabe watched Jack sleep for a moment. He could feel how calm Jack was, for once. He let out a soft hum. Jack had been hurt so badly - but he would fix that. No one would hurt him again. 

 

He didn't know when he fell asleep, only that his thumb had been stroking gently, lovingly over Jack’s cheek.

**Author's Note:**

> A HUGE thanks to Nox/Sheut for beta'ing (and bleeding/destroying and reworking the entire fic, you are a divine being).  
> This is their AO3:  
> http://archiveofourown.org/users/Sheut


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